Real stories. Honest lessons. A room that leaves different.

Keynote 01 · Inclusion & Culture

"The One They Didn't Plan For"

Why including people at the last minute costs more than doing it right the first time.

For years, theaters called Nikiya to do "the one-black-girl's-hair-that-they-did-not-plan-for," often the day before tech rehearsal. Nobody had talked to the actor. So she made talking to the actor the foundation of her process, and in 2018 she gave it a name: HAIRversations. In this keynote she shares what she's seen when people are an afterthought, from the actor with no wig budget to the actor who had to cut his locs after he'd already booked the show, and what changes when you plan for everyone from day one.

"She hoped there was some part of the other woman who knew her hair. And ultimately knew her pain. And would handle her with care."

Best for: DEI and culture teams, ERGs, HR leaders, beauty and haircare brands, entertainment and production companies

Keynote 02 · Women & Leadership

"Pressure Busts Pipes or Makes Diamonds"

"You've won the award... But what the audience doesn't see is the journey to it."

They tell you to chase your dreams. They don't tell you the dream can demand everything you have. They tell you to boss up. They don't tell you leadership gets lonely. They tell you the price just went up. They don't tell you that after the accolades, you may still be fighting to prove your worth in rooms that benefit from your presence. Nikiya tells the honest version of leading as a Black woman, the applause and the heartbreak, and what she knows for sure on the other side of it.

Watch: Nikiya at BroadwayCon on how her community got her here.

Best for: women's leadership conferences, Black women's ERGs, leadership summits, commencements, arts organizations

Keynote 03 · Leadership & Entrepreneurship

"All You Have Is All You Need"

Lessons from the audition room that built a leader, a designer and a business.

"Auditions taught me how to hear 'no' without breaking. Entrepreneurship is teaching me how to say no without apologizing." Nikiya built her design business before she knew she was building one, by filling a gap nobody else was filling. In this keynote she connects the actor's life to the boss's life: the mentor who told her "you get 1 day" after her first Broadway rejection, the wig failure that made her quit months before she was offered her first Broadway show, and the audition she almost skipped for a role whose name was N'kiyah.

Best for: corporate leadership events, entrepreneurship programs, business schools, sales and team kickoffs, creative industry conferences

Keynote 04 · Purpose & the Next Generation

"Don't Become Distracted"

"When you enter spaces that are much too small for you, it is because it is up to you to make space for the next person."

In her Special Tony Award speech, Nikiya spoke to the young Brown actress who will one day wonder where the courage came from: to keep going through microaggressions, through Eurocentric standards of beauty, through being told her hair wasn't soft enough or her work wasn't good enough. Her answer was simple. Don't become distracted. This keynote brings that message to anyone who has been made to feel like too much or not enough, and shows them how to keep doing the work, do it well, and hold the door open for whoever comes next.

Watch: "You were enough all along," from Nikiya's Special Tony Award acceptance.

Best for: commencements, college convocations, student and young professional audiences, mentorship programs, award ceremonies

Keynote 05 · Faith & Calling

"God Doesn't Waste Anything"

And you shouldn't either. Building a career in entertainment without leaving your faith at the stage door.

Nikiya started her career as an actress, then discovered God had also given her a gift for hair. She diminished it because it came easily and she hadn't gone to school for it. No cosmetology license. No apprenticeship. But when actresses called for help, she just kept saying yes, until it felt like ministry. Built on the Parable of the Talents, this talk follows what happens when you stop burying what's in your hands: like the director who once directed her as an actress, then hired her to design a play she had once acted in.

"He doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called. We consider the one 'talent' God put in our hands to be small, while God sees everything He can do through it."

Best for: churches and ministry conferences, Christian colleges and universities, women's ministry events, faith-based ERGs, young creatives of faith

Also Speaks On

Breakouts, panels and conversations.